Out of action ...

… for a while due to having fallen down a flight of stairs. Battered and bruised but not broken.

Normal service will resume as soon as possible!

xx

Dog pull toy from recycled fabrics

Plan A - Make a dog toy from recycled fleece following a video from Youtube. I watched several videos before I became competent with the four strip plait. Here's the finished product but I thought the colour was a little boring.

Plan B - Use different colours. I had no more fleece apart so I thought I'd cut some old T-shirts into strips.

The strips weren't very long but I persevered and …

dog pull number 2 emerged. 

The knots had to be pulled really tight.

Result - Too small. Now how can I cut the T-shirt to make the strips longer? Hang on, I've got an old fleece jacket. Use that. I couldn't remember how to cut a long strip from a rectangle but by trial and error ...

Plan C

I made a plan. Fold in half and cut up to the edges.

Snip at the appropriate places to make one continuous strip. I rounded off the corners and then set off using two pink strips and two yucky brown strips.

The knots have to be pulled really tight and pulling one strip at once was better that pulling opposite pairs. I worked anticlockwise using this method.

Now that's much better.

When I get four different coloured strips the pattern will be different.

The hardest bit was tying the knot at the end. I had quite long strips so the largest pull was fairly easy to knot with longer ends.

This video shows how to cut a continuous length and how to braid. You may not be able to sit through it all though!

:)

xx

Great minds think alike

I sorted out my herbs today and organised them by containers.

900 miles away DS did the same.

Great minds think alike!

xx

PS re last post - Delia, I saw the allotment and thought of you.

xx

Allotment envy

This was how an allotment should be - tended, tidied, productive and loved. A visit around the local allotment showed this in abundance. Here was a space for cut flowers and foliage,

here the beds were set out neatly and orderly.

There was a quiet space between the separate allotments for rest and contemplation with seating, wild and cultivated flowers and a small pond.

The best allotment on the plot, I thought, was this one where every square inch was covered with produce, sheds, greenhouses and special corners. There were even hens pecking around in one area and experimental growing in tyres and unusual containers.

A pergola led to a seating area where the overhead vine could be viewed with easily tended annuals at waist and eye height. Who said allotments should just be horizontal?

This gardening bum had serious allotment envy.

xx

Drying off

I gathered up the onions that had been drying outside 

and ...

… strung them up. They will dry even more hanging in the greenhouse and then I shall hang them up in the garage out of the way. We'll use the smallest and bruised ones first. 

There's about 60, not a massive number but they should last us for a while.

xx

Keep learning

For this little project I had to learn Something New again. It was FDC (Foundation Double Crochet) and CSDC (Chainless Starting Double Crochet) and both techniques were new to me. The wool I used was from my stash which seems to keep growing no matter how many things I crochet!

The pattern for this little coat is here and is a quick and relatively easy make - when you've learned the Something New of course.

xx

Ain't that nice!

Broad beans given to friend.

Recipe given to me.

Ain't that nice!

xx